Friends — An appeals court just blocked an order to return Rümeysa Öztürk from the ICE detention center in Louisiana where she is being held back to Vermont for hearings to determine whether she was illegally detained.

Rümeysa Öztürk has now been held in ICE detention for five weeks, despite committing no crimes and without any due process. It’s unacceptable for these hearings to be postponed.

This case is representative of the constitutional crisis that Trump has created by cracking down on free speech. Please, sign my petition today demanding that Rümeysa be released from ICE custody.

SIGN ON NOW

Last week, I visited Rümeysa Öztürk in Louisiana and heard her story firsthand. I want you to imagine yourself in her shoes.

You come to America to study, work, and pursue your dreams. You do everything right to come to the United States with legal residency status and don’t violate the terms of your visa.

Then one day, a group of masked men approach you on the street, refuse to identify themselves, and handcuff you. By the end of the day, you’re flown to Louisiana where you are detained in an ICE facility.

Then you learn that the reason you’re behind bars is not because you committed some crime or violated your visa, but because you wrote an op-ed for your school newspaper that went against the President's “foreign policy goals.” Now you face deportation and an end to your education and life in America.

This kind of repression of free speech is what dictators do, and it’s what Trump is doing in cases like Rümeysa’s across the country.

I’m calling on DHS to release Ms. Ozturk immediately, drop any proceedings against her, and begin an investigation into the conditions at her detention center. We need your help to continue to speak out.

Add your name to our petition demanding the release of Rümeysa Öztürk and all who have been wrongly arrested and held by ICE. Our democracy is counting on us to take action:

ADD YOUR NAME

In solidarity,

Ed Markey

 

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